Moody's: Ukraine's GDP Per Capita To Remain Lowest In CIS In 2017-2018

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26 October 2017, Thursday, 18:30 787

2017-10-26T18:30:00+03:00Economy2019-05-15T05:11:27+03:00

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Ukrainian news

Moody's: Ukraine's GDP Per Capita To Remain Lowest In CIS In 2017-2018

Moody's: Ukraine's GDP Per Capita To Remain Lowest In CIS In 2017-2018

Moody's, an international rating agency, predicts that Ukraine's GDP per capita will remain the lowest in the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2017 and 2018.

Yaroslav Sovhira, the director of the banking group Moody's Investors Service, said this in his speech at CIS bankers VI Ukrainian Banking Forum on October 19, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"If we look at the GDP per capita in the terms of the dollars, the picture is very bad. The GDP [per capita] will be just over USD 2,000 (in 2017-2018). Of course, one can adjust it to the purchasing power parity and it will make close to USD 5,000 or USD 6,000, but other countries' GDP can also be adjusted. When GDP per capita is that low it means the population continue to be very poor," he said.

According to Moody's, Russia's GDP per capita will make over USD 10,000 in 2017 and 2018, GDP per capita will make over USD 8,000 in Kazakhstan, over USD 6,000 in Belarus, over USD 4,000 in Azerbaijan, and close to USD 4,000 in Armenia.

"The GDP in absolute terms is very low. Of course, if the exchange rate does not change much, the GDP per capita will grow to USD 3,000 in a couple of years and to USD 4,000 in 3-4 years. I specifically looked for Ukraine's GDP in better times: in 2008 the nominal GDP was close to USD 8,000 and close USD 4,000 in 2013. Now it is USD 2,000. How many years will pass before one sees the population as prosperous as they were before the crisis?" he said.

He predicts that Ukraine's GDP will grow faster than in any country of the Commonwealth of Independent States in 2018, but it will remain low.

"It is true that the GDP growth is observed during the past ten quarters, but GDP is nearly USD 100 billion, although it was over USD 180 billion in 2013. It means the GDP has halved. If we look at the spending capacity, the incomes of the population have reduced significantly," he added.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, in the draft state budget for 2018 the Cabinet of Ministers predicts GDP growth of 3% in 2018 and inflation of 7% (December over December).

Late in May, the Cabinet of Ministers worsened the GDP growth forecast for 2017 from 3% to 1.8%.